Stevie Ray was ‘beautiful, mean, fun’ says brother

Stevie Ray Vaughan’s elder brother has recalled the late bluesman as a “beautiful, mean, fun” character who lived life with passion.

He died in a helicopter crash in 1990 – but he and his band Double Trouble were last night inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Accepting the honour in his place, former Fabulous Thunderbirds member Jimmie Vaughan said: “Our dad used to say he was a ‘bad motor scooter.’ He had enthusiasm for everything.

“That’s why people loved his music – because he loved it so much.”

He continued: “Big Brother showed Little Brother how to play guitar first. But Little Brother showed me how to get clean and sober. He was sober four years before that helicopter went down.

“It seems like to me that he’s just out on tour and he’s going to come back soon – but then I remember. I’m not going to ever get over losing him.”

Gary Clark Jr and John Mayer joined Double Trouble for a musical tribute during the 30th annual event.

Mayer described Vaughan as the “ultimate guitar hero” and added: “He was as emotional as Hendrix – but where Hendrix came down from outer space, Stevie came up from the ground.”

Last year Double Trouble’s Chris Layton said: “Our time together meant a lot to us. Our hope was that maybe other people would enjoy it as much as we did. Induction into the Hall Of Fame is sort of evidence of that.”

This year’s inductees also included the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, whose contribution to music was marked with a performance of their track Born In Chicago featuring Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, harpist Jason Ricci and country singer Zac Brown.

Guitarist Elvin Bishop commented: “It was a butt-kicking band – we helped blues cross over to the general public. We proved people of different races can work together and do good.”